“Extraordinary Attorney Woo” (2022) is a South Korean drama series about the titular character, Woo Young-woo (Park Eun-bin), who has autism and is a genius. The series follows the twenty-seven-year-old as she starts her first job at a white shoe law firm, Hanbada. Will she be judged by her neurodivergence or merit? It consists of sixteen episodes under ninety minutes each.
If you watched “Ally McBeal,” then you should be able to follow the format of “Extraordinary Attorney Woo.” Most episodes revolve around a case that is assigned to Young-woo, and a few cases span a couple of episodes. A more experienced associate, usually Jung Myung-seok (Kang Ki-young), supervises her and her fellow junior associates, former classmate and friend Choi Su-yeon (Ha Yoon-kyung) and schemer Kwon Min-woo (Joo Jong-hyuk). Lee Jun-ho, an employee who assists the team, is the office hottie, but he only has eyes for Young-woo. Law firm head Han Seon-yeong (Baek Ji-won), who was a former classmate of Young-woo’s father, Woo Gwang-ho (Jeon Bae-soo), a restaurant owner, has ulterior motives for hiring Young-woo related to her surreptitious competitiveness with Tae Soo-mi (Jin Kyung), a high-profile candidate for Minister of Justice, the “King” and the former head of a rival law firm, Taesun. Young-woo is a Sherlock Holmes type character who yanks a solution out of thin air.
“Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is an aspirational show because the protagonist is diagnosed at a young age and does not mask yet still gets through higher education and only gets a dose of the real world upon arriving at the firm. In reality, it is harder for girls to get diagnosed with autism, then once diagnosed, believed, and accommodated. There is very little concrete information on how we can be accommodated. We are figuring it out as we go. By the time a woman gets diagnosed, she has usually forced herself to mask to function in society. My personal theory is that most people nurture young boys to be cared for so when boys have special needs, they are tended to, and young girls are raised to be caretakers so when girls exhibit difficulty with a task, people judge and punish them as if their needs are a moral failing. Also girls are expected to tolerate a higher level of discomfort. So Young-woo is seen as autistic and disabled whereas a lot of us are seen as super competent and never needing help even when we express a need. On one hand, we do not want to be seen as disabled to detract from being taken seriously, but we experience resentment when we are flawed. On the other hand, after watching this series, I was now concerned that coming out as autistic would act as a filter in the way that people see us. Can’t win, but can I sign up for photographic recall because that would be cool.
“Extraordinary Attorney Woo” has an opportunity in the future to explore the late diagnosed autistic woman storyline with her best friend Dong Geulami (Joo Hyun-young). I read that character as autistic because she has a special interest, music, a fierce sense of justice by standing up to bullies for Young-woo, does not adhere to social norms in the way that she dresses, speaks her mind loudly and can be aggressive and also does not understand what is socially appropriate even when she is trying during an interaction with a teacher. The alt girl can be autistic. I would also love a mashup crossover episode with Jung Geum-ja (Kim Hye-soo) from “Hyena” working with Young-woo. She would blow her mind.
As a result of the gap between my lived experiences and the depiction of an autistic attorney, I found it hard to get into “Extraordinary Attorney Woo.” I had to follow my own advice and not put the weight of representing all autistic people on a single series then accept that this story was about one woman who was not meant to represent all autistic women. Even so it was still unbelievable that a woman that old never navigated a revolving door among other things. Her diagnosis seemed to define her, and the series showed us how others saw her, but not how she saw herself. I did not have any sense of her as a complete person until Episode 4 when the series starts exploring Young-woo’s childhood friendships
“Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is at its best when exploring Young-woo’s background. The mystery of her mother’s identity had me riveted, and I loved that her mother was not a villain, but likeable in spite of her actions. When she suggests that her daughter would get better treatment in the US, I almost wanted to jump into the screen, “Poltergeist” be damned, and scream “Nooooooooo, she is Asian, a woman and disabled. People here murder their disabled kids, and people call it a mercy. Are you trying to get her killed?” The actors really showed the unspoken bond between the estranged mother and daughter, and my favorite scene is when they are shopping oblivious to the other’s presence. It is one of those bittersweet moments because they should be shopping together. I also loved that the father was always kicking his daughter out of the shop because she was bad for business: insulting the customers and revealing his cheaper food substitutes.
There were a few times that “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” just got it wrong. I love him, but Myung-seok would have gotten fired the minute that he lost the firm money on a pro bono case, and the fact that he got so many sad sack cases was a sign that the firm did not value him. He is not making partner. Min-woo would have gotten fired for shit talking the firm’s hiring practices. I loved “A Tale About Sodeok-Dong” two-episode arc, but the charming town locals overshadowed the series’ regulars, and I felt as if we got transported to the South Korean equivalent of Stars Hollow, the town from “Gilmore Girls.” In contrast, I loved “The Blue Night of Jeju,” which felt like it was more about the regulars, and the case was an afterthought, but I wish that the show would be more consistent in striking a balance. One case got a happy ending by killing off a litigant. So dramatic and over the top.
“Extraordinary Attorney Woo” nailed the impact of judge’s individual styles on a case such as Judge Ryu Myeong-ha’s obsession with family lines in Episode 6 or the Judge (Park Jin-young) in the final two episodes. The show also knows how to depict whether a law firm is exclusive and successful. Taesun is shown as the superior rival to Hanbada. The series paid attention to certain details—the cars that they drive, the logo, uniform umbrellas, etc. I loved that Su-yeon treated her office like a dorm then was very put together once she emerged and tried to makeover Young-woo, who always rejected it.
I feel as if “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is setting up the possibility of Young-woo leaving Hanbada when she meets activist attorney Ryu Jae-sook (Lee Bong-ryun). Another alternative is the government’s attorney in Episodes 15 and 16 who handled a Handaba senior attorney without breaking a sweat and dressed differently from other women attorneys. Young-woo has already shown that she is unable to reconcile her role as a big firm attorney and her morality. Even with the favor of the big firms’ heads, the series was most realistic in depicting Young-woo’s professional relationship with ineffective, but politically savvy, hierarchical supervising attorney Jang Seung-jin (Choi Dae-hoon). It does not matter if her arguments are better, but if she makes him happy and is submissive, which is subjective and impossible. Her professional life would be difficult even if she was not an out and proud autistic attorney. She is a walking target for being better and all elbows. Either she would get fired or abused.
